Magnetic reading and/or recording apparatus for reading and/or recording information on a magnetic information track on a photosensitive medium

ABSTRACT

A magnetic reading and/or recording apparatus for reading and/or recording information from/on a magnetic information track on a web comprises a magnetic reading and/or recording element and a flexible member for supporting the magnetic reading and/or recording element for rotation about an axis perpendicular to a longitudinal axis of the web while restraining the magnetic reading and/or recording element from rotating about an axis parallel to the longitudinal axis of the web and an axis in a direction transverse to the longitudinal axis of the web. The magnetic reading and/or recording apparatus further includes a second flexible member for supporting the magnetic reading and/or recording element for movement in a direction transverse to the longitudinal axis of the web while restraining movement of the magnetic reading and/or recording element in a direction perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the web and in a direction parallel to the longitudinal axis of the web, and for supporting said reading and/or recording element for rotation about the axis perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the web.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

Reference is made to commonly assigned copending application U.S. Ser.No. 837,052, entitled MAGNETIC READING AND/OR RECORDING APPARATUS FORUSE WITH PHOTOSENSITIVE MEDIUM, and filed Feb. 18, 1992 in the name ofR. H. Kiesow.

Reference is made to commonly assigned copending application U.S. Ser.No. 701,727, entitled MAGNETIC HEAD-TO-RECORDING MEDIUM SUPPORTAPPARATUS, and filed May 17, 1991 in the name of J. G. Weigand, R. J.Blackman and F. C. Long.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates generally to the field of magnetic readingand/or recording apparatus and more particularly to a mechanism forsupporting a magnetic reading and/or recording element.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

In general, proper registration should be maintained between a magneticreading and/or recording element and a web having a magnetic informationtrack thereon to obtain or place accurate information from or on themagnetic information track. Conventionally, magnetic reading and/orrecording elements are supported by springs allowing three or moredegrees of freedom of movement. It is not always necessary to have amagnetic reading and/or recording element which has three degrees offreedom, therefore springs that allow the magnetic reading and/orrecording elements to gimbal with three degrees of freedom can be costlyand complex, thus difficult to manufacture.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

According to the invention, a magnetic reading and/or recordingapparatus comprises a magnetic reading and/or recording element andmeans defining an x-, y-, z-axis system for supporting the magneticreading and/or recording element for rotation about one of the axeswhile restraining the magnetic reading and/or recording element fromrotating about the other axes, wherein the x-axis and the y-axis areperpendicular to each other and the z-axis is perpendicular to the x-and y-axes.

Thus, a low cost mechanism for supporting magnetic reading and/orrecording element can be easily manufactured. Furthermore, the magneticreading and/or recording element is supported to maintain properregistration between the magnetic reading and/or recording element and aweb having a magnetic information track coated thereon.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Other advantages of the invention will become apparent from thefollowing description taken in connection with the accompanying drawingwherein:

FIG. 1 is an exploded view of a magnetic reading and/or recordingapparatus in accordance with the present invention;

FIGS. 2A, 2B, 2C are plan views showing a web entering and travelingthrough the magnetic reading and/or recording apparatus; and

FIG. 3 is a partial section view of a magnetic reading and/or recordingelement and its respective backer apparatus.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

Referring now to the drawings and in particular to FIGS. 1 and 2, amagnetic reading and/or recording apparatus 16 having a web guidingdevice 10 for directing a web 12 to a magnetic reading and/or recordingelement 14 in the magnetic reading and/or recording apparatus 16 isshown. The web 12 may be a conventional magnetic tape or it may be aphotosensitive medium, film or paper, having a virtually transparentmagnetic coating covering the non-emulsion side of the photosensitivemedium, herein referred to as film 12. It is not intended that thepresent invention be limited in any manner to any specific type ofphotosensitive medium or process. The mediums used in the illustrationsare solely for purposes of illustration.

The web guiding device 10 includes means defining an entrance 18 foraccepting the film 12 into the magnetic reading and/or recordingapparatus 16. The magnetic reading and/or recording apparatus may bepart of a conventional recording and/or playback appliance such as atape recorder or may be part of a photographic apparatus such as aphotographic printer, processor, or camera. According to a preferredembodiment, the entrance 18 is defined by a housing 20.

The preferred embodiment includes edge following means 22, referred toas an edge follower, attached to the magnetic reading and/or recordingelement 14 for tracking a longitudinal edge of the film 12 as it ismoving along a defined path to maintain proper registration between themagnetic reading and/or recording element 14 and a magnetic informationtrack on the film 12. The edge follower 22 is located initially in thedefined path. A forward leading edge 21 moves the edge follower 22 to avariable tracking position tracking the longitudinal edge of the film 12when the film 12 enters the magnetic reading and/or recording apparatus.

The edge follower 22 is capable of pivoting between a first positionparallel to the longitudinal edge of the film 12 as seen in FIG. 2A and2C and a second position angled towards the entrance 18 as seen in FIG.2B. The edge follower 22 is supported for pivotal movement between thefirst and second positions by a member 24 having at least one pointedend 26. The member 24 is attached to the housing 20 by any conventionalmeans. In the preferred embodiment, the pointed end 26, about which theedge follower 22 pivots, contacts the magnetic reading and/or recordingelement 14 at a point 25 remote from a center point 29 of the magneticreading and/or recording element 14 towards the entrance 18 as best seenin FIGS. 2A-C. Of course, the pointed end could contact the edgefollower 22 as long as the contact point is remote from the center pointof the magnetic reading and/or recording element 14 and is towards theentrance. It is advantageous having the contact point off center, asopposed to being centered, because the apparatus will have more of atendency to to automatically pivot about the point 25.

It should be obvious to one skilled in the art that the edge followercould pivot about a point located between the center point of themagnetic reading and/or recording element and an exit and achieve asimilar result. In this situation, the edge follower could be supportedby a biasing means located so that the biasing means biases an end ofthe edge follower towards the longitudinal edge of the film.

The preferred embodiment represented in FIG. 2 shows that the leadingedge of the film has tapered corners. Furthermore, the preferredembodiment includes tapered edges on the edge followers. These featuresaid in the movement of the leading edge of the film into the magneticreading and/or recording apparatus, however they are not required.

The member 24 in the preferred embodiment includes a second pointed stop27 at an opposite end of the member 24 for supporting a second magneticreading and/or recording element 15 located directly opposite the othermagnetic reading and/or recording element 14 along an oppositelongitudinal edge of the film 12.

Referring back to FIG. 1, the edge follower, which is attached to themagnetic reading and/or recording element 14, is attached to the housing20 by a first flexible member 28. This flexible member 28 supports themagnetic reading and/or recording element 14 for rotation about a z-axiswhile restraining the magnetic reading and/or recording element 14 fromrotating about an x-axis and a y-axis, wherein the x-axis and the y-axisare perpendicular to each other and the z-axis is perpendicular to thex- and y-axes. In the preferred embodiment, as seen in FIG. 1, thez-axis represents a direction perpendicular to a longitudinal axis ofthe film 12, the x-axis represents a direction transverse to thelongitudinal axis of the film 12 and the y-axis represents a directionparallel to the longitudinal axis of the film 12.

The first flexible member 28 comprises an upright portion 30 and twoopposite leg portions 32 extending from and normal to the uprightportion 30. The upright portion 30 is attached to a rigid frame 34within the housing 20 by any conventional means. The upright portion 30further includes a u-shaped opening 36 which allows the magnetic readingand/or recording element 14 to move in a direction transverse to thelongitudinal axis of the film 12. The leg portions 32 are attached tothe edge follower 22 by any conventional means. The configuration of theleg portions 32 allow the magnetic reading and/or recording element 14to rotate about the axis perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of thefilm 12.

In the preferred embodiment, the first flexible member 28 and a secondflexible member 38 operate together to support the magnetic readingand/or recording element 14 for rotation about the z-axis and movementalong the x-axis. The movement along the x-axis includes biasing theedge follower 22 towards the longitudinal edge of the film 12.

The second flexible member 38 comprises a central portion 40 and twoopposite arm portions 42 extending downward from the central portion 40.The central portion 40 is attached to the rigid frame 34 by anyconventional means. The arm portions 42 are attached to the edgefollower 22 by any conventional means.

It should be obvious to one skilled in the art that the first and secondflexible members can have alternate configurations as long as theysupport the magnetic reading and/or recording element for rotation aboutone axis while restraining rotation of the magnetic reading and/orrecording element about the other axes and that they support themagnetic reading and/or recording element for movement along one of theaxes while restraining the magnetic reading and/or recording elementfrom movement along the other-axes.

The magnetic reading and/or recording apparatus 16 includes a backerdevice 44 as disclosed in copending U.S. Ser. No. 701,727 filed May 17,1991 by Weigand et al., the disclosure of which is hereby incorporatedby reference. The backer device 44 insures that the magnetic informationtrack maintains constant contact with the magnetic reading and/orrecording element 14.

The magnetic reading and/or recording element 15 is attached an edgefollower 23 which is connected to the rigid frame 34 by flexible memberssimilar to the first and second flexible members 28 and 38 describedabove.

The operation of the magnetic reading and/or recording apparatus 16 inaccordance with the preferred embodiment will be described referring toFIG. 2A-2C. FIG. 2A shows the film 12 approaching the entrance 18 andthe magnetic reading and/or recording apparatus 16. The edge followers22,23 are initially parallel to the longitudinal axis of the film 12 andin the defined path of the film 12. As the leading edge of the film 21contacts the edge followers 22,23, the edge followers 22,23 pivot aboutthe pointed ends 26,27 so that they are angled towards the entrance 18creating a funnel, as best seen in FIG. 2B, for the film to easily enterthe magnetic reading and/or recording apparatus 16.

FIG. 2C shows the film 12 and the magnetic reading and/or recordingelement 14 (not visible) in a reading and/or recording position. Thepointed ends 26,27 are no longer contacting the magnetic reading and/orrecording element 14 and the edge followers 22,23 are in their variabletracking position contacting opposite longitudinal edges of the film 12at this time. As the film 12 travels through the magnetic reading and/orrecording apparatus 16, the edge followers 22,23 compensate forirregularities in the film edges and film width and the first and secondflexible members 28 and 38 allow the magnetic reading and/or recordingelements 14,15 to rotate about the axis perpendicular to thelongitudinal axis of the film 12 and to move in the direction transverseto the longitudinal axis of the film 12, thus, the magnetic readingand/or recording elements 14,15 will maintain proper registration withthe magnetic information track on the film 12.

Furthermore, the magnetic reading and/or recording apparatus describedis low cost and easy to manufacture.

The present invention has been described in detail with particularreference to a preferred embodiment thereof, but it will be understoodthat variations and modification can be effected within the spirit andscope of the invention.

I claim:
 1. A magnetic reading and/or recording apparatus for readingand/or recording information on a magnetic information track on aphotosensitive medium, said magnetic reading and/or recording apparatuscomprising:a magnetic reading and/or recording element; a flexiblemember for supporting said magnetic reading and/or recording element forrotation about an axis perpendicular to a longitudinal axis of aphotosensitive medium while restraining said magnetic reading and/orrecording element from rotating about an axis parallel to thelongitudinal axis of the photosensitive medium and an axis transverse tothe longitudinal axis of the photosensitive medium; means for supportingsaid magnetic reading and/or recording element for movement in adirection transverse to the longitudinal axis of a photosensitive mediumwhile restraining said magnetic reading and/or recording element frommoving in a direction perpendicular to the longitudinal and transverseaxes of the photosensitive medium and in a direction parallel to thelongitudinal axis of the photosensitive medium, and for supporting saidreading and/or recording element for rotation about the axisperpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the photosensitive medium; arigid frame; means connected to said magnetic reading and/or recordingelement for following a longitudinal edge of a photosensitive medium formaintaining proper registration between said magnetic reading and/orrecording element and a magnetic information track on the photosensitivemedium; and wherein said flexible member comprises an upright portionattached to said rigid frame and two opposite leg portions extendingfrom and normal to said upright portion, said leg portions are attachedto said following means; and said supporting means comprises a centralportion attached to said rigid frame and two opposite arm portionsextending downward from said central portion, said arm portions areattached to said following means.